St. Catharines city staff will be reaching out to the YMCA to see if there is a way to keep the Walker Family YMCA running.
Staff will be sending a letter to the YMCA and working with the YMCA of Niagara and Uwe Natho from the Save St. Catharines Y Campaign to see if partnership opportunities exist to keep the building operational.
During his delegation at council last night, Natho said, "The Y should have come to you guys a year ago, two years ago, just like it should have come to the members. Should we have run charity programs, fundraisers, etc.? Yes, we could have, we should have, but we were never asked to, we were never involved. I envision a partnership between the members, between the city, and the Y in order to bring the Walker YMCA back into financial health."
He admits he doesn't know whether the Walker Family YMCA can be saved, but encouraged council to work with YMCA members to think about ways to keep it alive.
The YMCA of Niagara announced they would be listing the 27 year old St. Catharines building for sale back in March due to financial pressures that began pre-pandemic.
Although the YMCA of Niagara was planning to sell the building, several programs would still continue within the community.